Ischemia is a condition wherein the blood flow is completely obstructed or considerably reduced in localized parts of the body, resulting in anoxia, reduced supply of substrates and accumulation of metabolites. Although the extent of ischemia depends on the acuteness of vascular obstruction, its duration, tissue sensitivity to it, and developmental extent of collateral vessels, dysfunction usually occurs in ischemic organs or tissues, and prolonged ischemia results in atrophy, denaturation, apoptosis, and necrosis of affected tissues.
In ischemic cardiomyopathy, which are diseases that affect the coronary artery and cause myocardial ischemia, the extent of ischemic myocardial cell injury proceeds from reversible cell damage to irreversible cell damage with increasing time of the coronary artery obstruction.